The Ties That Bind

The first two results were satisfactory for the visiting MLS sides, who will head home for the second legs of the Champions' Cup quarterfinals next week, while the last score was a bit of a surprise. Maybe the Americans' opening draw with Cuba wasn't so bad after all, considering Mexico is also stuck in a second-place group tie after the first two days of Olympic qualifying matches. The U.S. team goes back at it tonight against Panama in Tampa (8 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN Deportes).

Some thoughts about the FSC coverage of the DCU match last night.....

It was unfortunate the game had to be shown on almost half-hour delay, but I understand the contractual obligation to show the entire English League match, which preceded the Champions' Cup game. No worries. The picture quality was better than I expected, considering the decidedly low-tech locale where the match was played. But while I appreciate the difficulty of announcing a game while staring at a monitor in a studio in Los Angeles, there is no excuse for sloppy preparation.

You would think Paul Caligiuri's world experiences and California upbringing would have taught him proper pronounciation of Latin American names. It's "More-A-no," not "Marine-o". It's "Knee-el," not "Neal." (Christian Miles made the same mistake repeatedly with the Argentine forward's name.)

Miles said United lost Brian Carroll to Columbus in the expansion draft, when in fact, D.C. lost him to San Jose, the actual expansion team, which then traded him to the Crew a week later. Caligiuri called United's new central defenders "Gonzalo Martinez and Gonzalo Martinez" and said they were not related. (Wow.)

Referring to a Harbour View player leaving the match, Miles said he had "met his maker, so to speak." Someone call the funeral director! At one point, when the camera focused on United's bench, the announcers told us that the individual on the screen was DCU operations manager Jason AmaguaÃ±a, brother of Harbour View defender Ronny AmaguaÃ±a. Wrong. It was team administrator Francisco Tobar.

While we are all appreciative of FSC's coverage of soccer -- especially live, or almost live, coverage -- it is sometimes difficult to watch without a constant urge to mute the sound. Conversely, Christopher Sullivan, who handled color commentary for the Houston-Municipal match on FSC, was insightful and prepared. Caligiuri should take note.

One would think the FSC announcers would learn from the excellent broadcasters doing the EPL matches on FSC. Silence can be OK, and there's no need to tell us what we're seeing. Provide insight to SUPPORT what we're seeing.

The comment about Carroll . . . I'm pretty sure he said Supplemental Draft actually . . . which had me trying to remember exactly how they lost him (trade, expansion draft, to who, for what, whatever). Made my head spin . . .

I agree it is a mystery that Christian Miles has a job. But he has been at FSC since it was FSW and he has been doing the same exact things that whole time so either no one there realizes how atrocious he is or he is related to Rupert Murdoch.

The thing that annoys me the most is that he uses all of those weird Britishisms but only has a vague idea of what they actually mean. And then he uses them over and over again. Oh, and the Namoff thing is really grating too.

I wonder how badly our stadium announcer at RFK will butcher all of these new names. That's some one else who has been needing to lose his job for a long time.

Thanks for all the information reaging FSC Goff. I was really annoyed and sent them email too and went online redio which didn't play easily on my Mac first. Nevertheless, I appreciate FSC to bring games and as bad as it sounds the commentators I still appreciate them. Best thing they should do is TALK LESS. American commentators TALK TOO MUCH.
Wow all those ties.
Hope the next game would be a much better one!

This is what I get for watching the game at a bar and not having sound. I miss all the fun. I don't know why the sudden uproar though, I feel FSC announcers have been spewing rediculous comments for years now.

This is what I get for watching the game at a bar and not having sound. I miss all the fun. I don't know why the sudden uproar though, I feel FSC announcers have been spewing rediculous comments for years now.

Anyone else find it odd that no Red Card was given to the HV player for the take down, no card at all for the undercut of Neill,(How can you undercut a gnome?), and nothing at all for the foot drag across the head on Wells? The HV player could have prevented it, but chose not to. Then yellows for DC for relatively minor infractions? DC blew by going bunker, but the ref didnt help at all! Looking forward to laying the smackdown on the Harbor View Hackers tuesday! Neill is FAST!. Congrats to our Winchester boy McT for his goal! He was trying to get out of the way of Gallardo's shot, he didn't, the shot hit him so he collected the ball and quickly put it in the net. Our passing game on a smooth field will decimate HV.

Goff you are spot on with regards to that FSC coverage last night. For a hoppy game (that was necessary for United at this point in the season) the commentary really killed it for me. Speaking of kill, if I hear Miles use the word "trepidacious (sp?) one more time...just one more time...c'mon I dare you...

We have to deal with this all season too. It seems the Gals and West Coast teams get FSC's A team while we are usually stuck with Miles and Miles-light. You know for as much as these guys know about the league, FSC might as well give us those two idiots from Fox Football Phone In - at least their ignorance of the league comes with an accent. Sheesh.

If you think Caliguiri had a bad night, you should hear him when he calls a match where Landon Donovan is playing. It was the worst thing I'd ever heard. It was just a Donovan love fest for 90 minutes. He missed things in the game at the expense of talking about how important Donovan was. Now I could understand that if Donovan had lit it up all game long...but he didn't.

I did mute the broadcast last night so thanks for showing graft and listening for me.

From a visual standpoint, I'm really bugged by the missing three stripes across the chest. I can't believe that any shirt sponsor would be worth losing the stripes. In my mind they are what identifies DC United.

With all the changes in the lineup and the new shirt it really didn't seem like it was my team out there last night.

I think the Carroll-to-Columbus error is forgivable (except if it came from a DCU broadcasting team). BC was with SJ for about 5 minutes. Other errors were not forgivable and I demand a letter of apology for me and two letters for all of you because I endured the only second half.

The first time, in my life, I've muted a sports telecast. Miles overly-inflected attempt to speak foreign words is disgusting, and the mispronunciation of Gallardo's name, as the previous poster references, is beyond frustrating.

On top of that, he has no insight on the game, and DOESNT EVEN CALL THE GAME. He talks about trivia, how many championships DCU has, etc. Worst announcer I've ever heard. Ever.

I am always tempted to give Caligiuri a pass because of his accomplishments on the field (and, if for nothing else, "The Shot Heard 'Round The World"). That feeling usually passes within the first 5 minutes of a given match, after multiple egregious errors. He also has the speaking rhythm of someone who has been weeping for a long time, and is almost-but-not-quite done.

Miles is just bothersome because he's trying desperately to do an impression of an English announcer.

Onto the match: You can see that the new guys can play, but there were still a lot of misunderstandings. Martinez and Peralta look to be a substantial improvement in the back. Both are more calm and composed. If this was a good indicator of how they'll play this season, I see us being able to grind out more 1-0 wins.

Gallardo obviously has tremendous skill, but you get the sense that he's still figuring out the rest of the team and vice versa. Once the connection is really there, I think MLS teams are going to struggle to cope with his level of skill. I was also glad to see that, for a player known to have a bit of a temper, he never seemed angry (despite getting some hardy bumps and shoves throughout).

Niell has the potential to become something of a fan favorite. He works really hard, and is aggressive enough to win headers despite being one of the shortest players in league history. I look forward to being able to bring him in to harass tired defenders.

It wasn't a bad effort, and on a different night we grab a win. How often do you see Emilio miss on chances like the one he mis-hit (looked like the ball rolled into his plant foot as he wound up) in the 2nd half? There's room for improvement, obviously, but it looks like we should be able to win somewhat comfortably at RFK.

Unfortunately for many of us, FSC is the best option we have. Yes, we can watch GOLTV or any number of Spanish-speaking stations, but FSC also airs a bunch of games those stations do not. ESPN only shows a handful of games, and most of their announcers have problems pronouncing Namoff.

I couldn't catch the match last night, and it seems i didn't miss much (except the debuts of gallardo, wells, peralta, martinez and "knee-el"; a mctavish goal and some atrocious officiating and announcing). PHEW!

so, where can I find some highlights? The CONCACAF Champions Cup site doesn't look promising and the DCU site only has recap.

Caligiuri went through like he had just been pulled off the street and had to fudge his way through 90 minutes. Then again, he was an athlete not a broadcaster, so that is somewhat to be expected...by the same token, that means he is to provide "color" commentary, which he did not, nor did he provide any insight.

Some folks hate Sullivan, but I like him. If nothing else, he provides insight and a window into the mechanics of the game for the viewer (my favorite color-guy though is Chilavert...I wish he spoke English...Hudson is entertaining, too).

Miles, as a "professional" broadcaster, brings discredit to his chosen profession. He could at least bring a rich voice to the table, but he does not. He sounds like a 13 year old in the throes of puberty. Unfortunately, his grating voice only highlights the stupidity of the things he says. There is no excuse...he is supposedly a "pro," after all.

To add to it, DC looked liked it was going through the motions, like it was a auxiliary field scrimmage. I know they are not "in-season" but their performance did not get me all hot and bothered for Tuesday's second leg.

oh why snobs we have all become. (myself included of course) just a few years ago, we would have been railing about this not being on tv anywhere outside Kingston and now we get ticked off about camerawork (seriously though, was that a high school kid getting extra credit for taping the jv game?) and that pitch...maybe they should have played chivas on the junk field last week after all.

I don't think the problem with American announcers is they talk too much, it's when they either a) sound like complete idiots, or b) explain the game as if the viewer didn't realize the ball is round. Guys like Wynalda, Harkes, and Rob Stone may have their pros and cons, but they are infinitely better than Miles.... I would rather listen to Wynalda and disagree for 90 minutes than wonder if Miles bothered to look at the roster.

And the whole nil-nil thing, whatever. Doesn't bother me. I hate the EPL, but I still say nil-nil - it's what I learned when I fell in love with the game as a kid.

Piling on Miles: didn't he also ramble on about how it would be good for an MLS team to "breakthrough" and finally win an international tournament? I guess he forgot DC winning in 1998 (and the Interamericana to follow) and the Gals in 2000.

OK, about the game:
Looked like massive communications problems at times, which is to be expected, but I wonder if part of this is language trouble in addition simply having all the new players.

Liked Peralta, Wells, Simms, Gallardo, Niell.

Not so much Emilio and Namoff.

Fred and Burch mixed bag - and Burch AGAIN with the dumb card in international play, which it seemed to me was for kicking the ball away on a HView freekick. What is with his mental focus? It seems like his filter is set about 1.2 notches past Benny's and it really hurts the team at times.

My concerns about the announcing were a little different. It's easy to blast Paul Caligiuri. The only reason he has an announcing job is one blast he struck almost 20 years ago. He's a singularly dull color man/analyst. He offers no special insight, and he delivers it in an awful monotone.

Christian Miles, though, bothers me because he seems to think he's English. On the goal, according to Miles, Devon McTavish didn't "know much about" the pass from Gallardo.

Why can't these guys wrap their heads around the idea that they are broadcasting for an American audience, not an English one? Why use phrases that would only make sense to someone who listens to the EPL broadcasts?

Talking about Harbor View and United's history, He also referred to the growth of "football" in the region. I believe that the sport is known a "soccer", both here and in Jamaica. Why not call it by it's proper name?

I hope Zach Wells doesn't have a concussion. I hope Jaime is better. I miss Christian. We are a free flowing toward the oponents goal team. If they have to pass to the center half everytime they go pass then it will be forever to get a goal.

However, Goff is dead on that Christian Sullivan is BY FAR the best announcer that FSC employs. I wish ESPN had brought him in, I'd love to hear him doing color for MLS rather than the useless (behind the mic) John Harkes.

How does that field compare to the size of the pitch at RFK? Methinks that subpar field conditions (both the quality of the pitch and size) were not the recipe needed for a team that should be able to find and exploit space better on the open field.

I hope that we can find some more dynamic movements going forward - parts of that game offensively were as inspiring as the US U23's vs Cuba.

Supporters really need to come out and drub up support from everyone possible to show this club that we are behind them and that we'll do our part so long as they get it going between the touches.

Without Moreno and Olsen, and without Gomez and Carroll and Vanney, the team had no veteran leadership. Emilio is NOT a captain. Just wait until we get back to DC with an enthusiastic crowd and a familiar field. I bet the Jamaicans will feel totally out of place, and we should dominate the full 90, instead of just the first 30.

Agree with all the criticism of the commentators, but also agree that we should all be happy this was on tv at all. And it was annoying to have to wait til 8:30 for the game to start, but they absolutely made the right decision in showing it on tape delay rather than joining in progress. Could have been much worse.

Simms is a darned good holding midfielder - not flashy, not mistake prone, just solid.

Gallardo can play...really play. That free kick he had was outstanding and his distribution was quick and controlled. It was a shame he was distributing to sub-par talent.

Emilio and Fred looked like they hadn't played since DCU's last game against Chicago at RFK. Emilio had a terrible time creating anything that tested the HV keeper. And Fred coughed up the ball almost every time he touched it.

I'm new to being an MLS fan after years of watching the Premiership. If matches continue like this, I'm going to head back to the Premiership because it just isn't fun or entertaining.

My favorite part was when Miles called Simms the "fulcrum" of the midfield. Then he called Gallardo the "fulcrum" of the midfield 20 minutes later.

When the massed whined about ESPn for years, so many fans said the grass wouldn't be greener on the other side. FSC reminds us of that on a regular basis. It's not that ESPn hates soccer. Broadcasters just all suck at an equal level.

oh why snobs we have all become. (myself included of course) just a few years ago, we would have been railing about this not being on tv anywhere outside Kingston and now we get ticked off about camerawork (seriously though, was that a high school kid getting extra credit for taping the jv game?) and that pitch...maybe they should have played chivas on the junk field last week after all.

Props to FSC for merely covering the game, but I think that's as much credit as I'll give to them. The commentating was terrible, there camerawork was horrendous...ugh. Given it was in Jamaica, I wasn't expecting to be ESPN quality (and that's saying something...) but I could have done without the 15+ second pauses in between possessions.

With United, I'm concerned that we aren't as organized as we should be at this point in the preseason. Emilio looked unmotivated, Gallardo didn't really impress, and McTavish's goal was fortunate at best. However it's early, and in our first match that counts, I suppose we can be lenient on form. Our new center back pairing impressed until the back line let in the tying goal.

I'm hoping for a big improvement next Tuesday. I'm staying in DC for the first part of my spring break to go to RFK, so it better be worth it...(then again, I guess its worth it simply being at the unofficial home opener. Yeah, it's worth it.)

I sent an email to fsc this morning and rupert murdoch was at my door early this morning with caliguari and miles. He had them on some sort of electrified punishment leash and made them apoligize to me face to face for being frigging stumble-bum idiots.

Anybody remember what happened last time DCU played away at Harbourview-FSC screwed up the feed and it wasn't shown. Maybe Fox hates jamaica.

Does FSC's schedule for next Tuesday raise the possibility of similar snafus, or is it likely that they will be able to broadcast from RFK on schedule? If the latter, then people can mute the sound and listen to Tony Limarzi @ the WFED site.

Talking about Harbor View and United's history, He also referred to the growth of "football" in the region. I believe that the sport is known a "soccer", both here and in Jamaica. Why not call it by it's proper name?
Posted by: Fisch Fry | March 13, 2008 11:34 AM
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Proper name is football.

I am glad that markva is here to decipher the secret code in goff's phrase "decidely low-tech". I took it to mean a stadium that was not accustomed to int'l television broadcast and didn't see, until he pointed it out, that it is actually a viscious, patronizing jab.

I watched the game late and DVR missed the last 5 minutes due to that EPL match that ran late. As a result, I went to bed thinking DCU played a horrible game on a horrible field with a horrible ref and against a team of ill intentioned semi pros. But I was happy we got away with 3 points. Thank you FSC for letting me go to sleep without that extra worry.

Re commentators, I really could care less about those idiots. As long as Wynalda is not there, I am content.

"WOW. that's not derogatorily stereotyping jamaica at all or anything. way to go GOFF."

Come on. Last spring, FSC showed the semis and final of the Red Stripe Champions Cup (FA Cup of Jamaica), played at Harbour View's stadium. The video and audio were terrible. Based on ACTUAL EXPERIENCE, I was also surprised that the feed was so good last night.

I'm new to being an MLS fan after years of watching the Premiership. If matches continue like this, I'm going to head back to the Premiership because it just isn't fun or entertaining.

Posted by: Fly the Coop | March 13, 2008 12:01 PM
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Hey Coop, I watch the PL too and MLS ain't it. For many reasons I care not to get into here, MLS is not and does not play like the PL. Now since you're new and all, I'll be a gent and share this with you...what you watched was pretty much a pre-season game (yes it was competitive, but pre-season nonetheless) by a new squad that is still learning to play together. It will get better as these guys become more familiar with each other. I can tell you this, DC plays one of the more attractive, flowing and meaningful styles of soccer in MLS. So when these guys start gellin' you'll see some great MLS soccer. So just bare with it and it will all work itself out and it definitely gets better, much better.

OR

You can hold on to your bad attitude and your empty threat and go back to watching PL matches only. To which end I say "don't let the proverbial door smash you in the ass on your way out." We will surely loose years of sleep over missing you so much. "I say do you remember that dear fellow, Coop who stopped watching MLS resulting in the league folding all those long years past? I have never been the same since he/she left." :)

Right-o chaps. Just thought I'd pop in for a cup of tea and have a nice chat with you lot about football. I'd rather quaff a pint. But I'm so bloody exhausted from presenting the match that I don't fancy an ale.

Did you watch the match on the telly? I was astonished at how dreadful the pitch was.

Does FSC's schedule for next Tuesday raise the possibility of similar snafus, or is it likely that they will be able to broadcast from RFK on schedule?
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It wouldn't appear that FSC will have a similar problem next Tuesday. The 7:30 kickoff is preceeded by Sky Sports News and before that a replay of the US-Honduras Olympic Qualifier. However, we are talking FSC so don't rule out anything.

I'm sure people are sick of hearing about algarve cup, but I just got a dvd of the final and felt like amusing myself. cameraman appears to have a crush on tarpley and is keeping it pinned on her early. unfortunately, she was the one player who didn't sing along with the national anthem. in first ten seconds, each keeper had a touch on the ball! solo extends to catch an extremely cheeky chip that would have scored (apologies for the anglicism, but I know of no synonym for cheeky). denmark's #5 (i lost my match sheet) has a great turn and scared the bejeezus out of the back line. for a fairly slight woman, tarpley can really elevate. and chalupny flattened a danish midfielder (a lesson for our u-23 men perhaps?) but they paid her back with a hack shortly thereafter. goal was a beautiful corner right to natasha kai's head. she was in the middle of a crowd but just levitated a foot over the defenders. ah well, that's enough rambling.

Troy: Were these matches that you captured on DVD broadcasts by the Portuguese counterpart to BSPN or something? Do you have enough command of Portuguese to follow the play-by-play, and if so, was there anything distinctive about it?

From a program on the Travel Channel some years ago, I vaguely recall that the Algarve is a popular destination for visitors from Anglophone countries. Is this so?

"From a visual standpoint, I'm really bugged by the missing three stripes across the chest. I can't believe that any shirt sponsor would be worth losing the stripes. In my mind they are what identifies DC United."

Quite frankly, it probably doesn't make any practical difference one way or the other, as their prospects for getting any additional points in their final two matches have to be considered pretty poor.

An additional thought: The Cubans, of all people, should have brought a full complement of 20 players. After all, the other seven teams only have to worry about injuries and suspensions. The Cubans have an additional contingency to take into account.

Why can't these guys wrap their heads around the idea that they are broadcasting for an American audience, not an English one? Why use phrases that would only make sense to someone who listens to the EPL broadcasts?

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Considering most of FSC's audience are people who listen to EPL broadcasts....

What next? Complain about Spanish language broadcasts of SuperLiga on Telefutura?

hey tri-village,
yeah, the matches were broadcast on portuguese state TV and a friend recorded the matches for me. I wish I were more talented at figuring out how to upload to youtube.

my portuguese is good enough to follow football commentary pretty easily, but there was nothing particularly distinctive about it. the announcers clearly didn't know much about the players, other than what they found on the match sheet. the algarve was virtually a british province for decades. nowadays, all of "cold europe" retires in the south, so there are a lot of germans and scandinavians as well. when I was frantically searching for the albufeira stadium for the first match (the one the federation inexplicably moved), it took several attempts to find someone who spoke portuguese -- ie, a local -- to ask directions. still, algarve beaches are incredible: imagine arches national park (weathered sandstone formations) right up on southern california beaches. it's a good place for a tournament.

One more thing - I too was alternately disappointed or amused (especially by the "Gonzalos-not-brothers") by the commentary, but reading all these blog entries all at once I'm astonished at the level of vitriol directed at the announcers. It was great to have the game on tv. Our team was awful and the result was not great. I, for one, am worried that the overhaul was too ambitious. I'm worried that Gallardo is not the right number 10 for the fast-building attack of recent years. I'm worried about Jaime. I'm worried about a bunch of things. So it surprised me to see how little of the commentary here was about our new-look team, and how much about the commentators.

Did anyone else notice that one of the FSC guys last night said a MLS team had not won the Cup since the LA Galaxy in... 2007? What?! Did they actually see LA last year? They certainly weren't winning any international championships -- they were lucky whenever their winning streak hit 2 games -- might be a different story this year, though (except against DC of course!).

Pachuca won in 2007. But FSC had the team right, it was LA in 2000 who was the last to win from MLS. Bring it home this year United!!

And speaking of the game itself, there is certainly a bit of concern about the way the team has not quite jelled yet. I agree with those that mentioned that probably more attention should be given to game-play here rather than the commentators, although it's certainly hard to resist piling on when it went the way it did.

Hopefully, as fans, we can chalk the lack of team cohesion up to this being the first real game with such a new mix of talent. But I sure hope the coaches are introducing some techniques to encourage the development of that internal teamwork. From everything we have seen and read, the staff knows that is the main concern at this point, so not to worry.

I am excited to see how these new Gallardo-to-Niell plays will develop going forward. There were some exciting opportunities that will hopefully develop into goals soon. Keep up the good effort United, and let's do even better back at RFK!

I guess what concerned me the most was that the team actually performed worse as the game went on. Usually when you're on the road playing on an unfamiliar field that isn't in the best condition you would expect the team to warm up and work its way into form. But the offense completely disappeared for much of the second half. Is this a fitness problem? And if so, why didn't we use our third substitution to bring on another attacking player like Quaranta?

I'd say Canada-Mexico is less of a surprise than United tying HARBOR VIEW FC!!!! Canada is always underrated, but are starting to get really good (look at last year's Gold Cup). Frankly, I'm not surprised at that at all.

However, I think Houston and DC should be shamed for not beating 2 crappy teams.

RE FSC Announcers: they did a pretty terrible job, but if I'm a DC fan I'd be a bit more concerned that my team was VERY fortunate to escape with a draw after being pants by the Harbour View.

RE Spanish Pronunciation: You guys do realize that there is more than 2 dialects of Spanish yes? There are literally hundreds. Saying definitively that one name is pronounced one way is ridiculous.
My father's side of the family is Catala so we speak Spanish and Catala to his parents when we see them (toss in the German I had to speak to my other grandparents and you have one confused kid linguistically. :p ). When I speak to Mexicans they tell me I speak Spanish improperly because it's not like 'their version'
When I speak to Argentines it's a different set of issues. Things do change regionally folks.

Nice story Papa Bear. I used to work down the hall from a lady from Barcelona who frequently got on a soapbox about how terrible the Spanish spoken in America is. I always questioned her authority, as her native language isn't Spanish :-)

Nice story Papa Bear. I used to work down the hall from a lady from Barcelona who frequently got on a soapbox about how terrible the Spanish spoken in America is. I always questioned her authority, as her native language isn't Spanish :-)

Posted by: I-270, Exit 1 | March 13, 2008 06:25 PM
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She's from Barcelona. In Barcelona, they speak Spanish. (Catalan is a dialect of Spanish.) Therefore, her native language must be Spanish. The Spanish spoken in America is actually not Spanish at all--it does not come from Spain, it comes from Latin America. But they can't very well call it Latin, can they?

I'd say Canada-Mexico is less of a surprise than United tying HARBOR VIEW FC!!!! Canada is always underrated, but are starting to get really good (look at last year's Gold Cup). Frankly, I'm not surprised at that at all.

However, I think Houston and DC should be shamed for not beating 2 crappy teams.

Posted by: Kevin | March 13, 2008 04:59 PM
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Come on, give Harbor View some credit. They earned my respect in that game. They are a lot better than you give them credit for. Same with Municipal.